Sharewatch: Positive Trading Gives Boost To Radio

A positive day’s trading amongst media stocks saw the UK’s radio companies bounce back from a week of decline yesterday, with all but GWR seeing an increase in share price.

GWR recently announced the details of its merger with Capital Radio, a move which will create a broadcaster worth £711 million controlling more than 40% of the radio advertising market. However, the group continued to see a decline yesterday, losing 0.60% to 248p (see Capital And GWR Name Team For Single Sales House). Meanwhile Capital saw its share price recover some ground, rising by 0.48% to close at 418p.

Rival radio group UBC also saw a rise, climbing by 1.0% to close at 25źp. Last month the broadcaster announced details of a development agreement with Channel 4 to create a new national radio station from the company’s existing Oneword digital offering. The initiative, believed to be the brainchild of Channel 4’s chairman, Luke Johnson, is designed to diversify Channel 4’s revenue amid competition from new digital channels entering the market (see UBC Announces Plans For Radio With Channel 4).

Elsewhere, Cable & Wireless rose by 2.22% to 103˝p following speculation that it has been targeted by venture capitalists. The rumours were prompted amongst city traders by Columbia Ventures taking a 6.5% stake in a rival telecoms group.

The FTSE 100 performed well yesterday, rising by 22.2 points to close at 4,681.8, while the FTSE 250 managed an impressive 68 point increase to close at 6,401.

The closing prices of media company shares on Monday were: